There is help though, if you are willing to buy a copy of C. Norman Evans, D.V.M.'s "Alpaca
Field Manual". There he offers sound advice on the alpacas nutritional needs.
Alpacas need the grain to balance out any vitamin & mineral deficiencies in
their pasture/hay. You can buy pellets for alpacas on the market or mix your own. We mix our grain ourselves. We use a 3 Quart
grain container and mix together...
Two Scoops (6 quarts) of Alfalfa pellets
Two Scoops (6 quarts) Steamed rolled oats
One Scoop (3 quarts) of Beet pulp with Molassess
Half Scoop (1 1/2 quarts) of Steamed Flaked Corn
We add about a third to one half cup of ground flax seed
We have found that different companies have different size alfalfa pellets. If the alfalfa
pellets are to large because after all they are normally made for horses. We take a grinder and grind them up a touch, just
enough to break them down, before adding them to the grain mixture. This helps in preventing choking.
We place only one cup of grain mixture in their bowls at a time. Any more than that
and they can grab large mouthfuls which can lead to choking. We place the bowls about five-ten feet apart from
each other to avoid confrontations between alpacas and so they do not feel the need to gobble down their grain, again,
to prevent choking. They love their grain.
We feed the females two cups a day and the males only 1/4th to 1/2 a cup. This varies between
ranches. DO NOT OVERFEED grain mixtures to alpacas. This has dier consequences! Our veternarian reccommends
no more than three cups per each animals. Of course less for crias. Keep your grain mixtures locked up and away from alpacas.
For a treat, I sometimes use a chopper to chop up fresh carrots to add to the alpaca grain
mix before feeding them.
Store grains in plastic containers with secure lids in a dry, cool area to prevent mice
contamination. Do not feed mice contaminated or moldy grain to alpacas.
